Did an opening of a dietetic consultation interview today, of course it was a mock-up in the clinical skills simulation unit but it was rather nerve wrecking. We were only given the know-hows the previous day and today we're going right into the practical. And the session is recorded down on video to be peer reviewed. The peer review part isn't that scary so I think the nerves are mainly due to our amateurishness and the fact that the session is going to be recorded on video. Although the opening was a maximum of 5 minutes, but nevertheless... rather anxiety generating. I'm still trying to process what happened because it all happened all too fast. Perhaps that was the exact intention the instructors had. Sometimes the more you think about something you sort of psycho yourself out of it or make yourself more anxious. And it's also good that we didn't have much time to prepare so we're able to see where we're at during the beginning with regards to counselling skills, then we could compare it where we are towards the end of the semester and see how much we've improved.
Counselling is definitely a skill that gets polished the more practice you get. When we're just starting out, we don't have the right "script" programmed in our heads and thus the whole process seems very awkward, like we're not sure what to say or what to do next. I think it's a very interesting class though, hope to get a lot out of it to be prepared for the 'real world'. I really like how there's quite a bit of practical components in the class so it's not just about theories on counselling but you're actually doing it and learning through that process.
Looking forward to one fine day where conducting a dietetic interview becomes second nature to me, so when I'm seeing a client I could be totally focused on the client and their issues and attentive to the client's emotions. When patients seek out a health professional with regards to their health issues they are usually full of anxiety about the consultation, worrying about their condition, and uncertain about what the health professional would say. It's such a stressful event for patients, especially if it's their initial consultation and they have yet to seize up how the experience is going to be like. At these times, if as health professionals we ourselves are anxious about our own performance with regards to counselling skills, we would be unable to give our 100% to the patient to help them.
Today during the simulation of the dietetic consultation, i felt that the entire time i was thinking whether i've covered all the stages of the opening and whether i was saying the correct things and asking appropriate questions... my focus was on myself rather than on my "client". Of course the "client" in the simulation was a classmate and i already knew what she was going to say since we were given a scenario and we've practiced the opening of the interview together before.
So the main takeaway from this activity is that... I need tons of practice in counselling skills!
Counselling is definitely a skill that gets polished the more practice you get. When we're just starting out, we don't have the right "script" programmed in our heads and thus the whole process seems very awkward, like we're not sure what to say or what to do next. I think it's a very interesting class though, hope to get a lot out of it to be prepared for the 'real world'. I really like how there's quite a bit of practical components in the class so it's not just about theories on counselling but you're actually doing it and learning through that process.
Looking forward to one fine day where conducting a dietetic interview becomes second nature to me, so when I'm seeing a client I could be totally focused on the client and their issues and attentive to the client's emotions. When patients seek out a health professional with regards to their health issues they are usually full of anxiety about the consultation, worrying about their condition, and uncertain about what the health professional would say. It's such a stressful event for patients, especially if it's their initial consultation and they have yet to seize up how the experience is going to be like. At these times, if as health professionals we ourselves are anxious about our own performance with regards to counselling skills, we would be unable to give our 100% to the patient to help them.
Today during the simulation of the dietetic consultation, i felt that the entire time i was thinking whether i've covered all the stages of the opening and whether i was saying the correct things and asking appropriate questions... my focus was on myself rather than on my "client". Of course the "client" in the simulation was a classmate and i already knew what she was going to say since we were given a scenario and we've practiced the opening of the interview together before.
So the main takeaway from this activity is that... I need tons of practice in counselling skills!
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